Fade to black: EP 2 - Kaleidoscope
by maxrpg
Summary: We follow SG-1 and their new recruit as they start their journey through the Stargate to explore new worlds.
1. Chapter 1

This is a continuation of my original 'Fade to Black' story, it follows SG-1 and their new recruit Alisana as they start their adventures together through the Stargate to explore the galaxy.

**Name**: Alisana

**Sex**: Female

**Age**: Unknown (Physically she looks around 17 years old)

**Race**: Furling

**Appearance**: Humanoid, 5' 3", 110 pounds, Sandy Blonde hair – mid back length, Green eyes, Slim.

**Skills**: Good with technology, Has a lot of knowledge of the Ancients, Nox and Furling races.

**Special Abilities**: Fast learner, Ages very slowly, Furling abilities – currently unknown.

* * *

Several months have passed since the war with the Verdain ended, hundreds of men, women and ships were lost in the battle and it has taken everyone a long time to get back to some type of normality.

Atlantis since returned to Pegasus to continue their fight with the Wraith, hundreds of Ancients were drained of their energy in the great battle with the Verdain and no contact has been made with them since, their condition remains a mystery.

Hundreds of Novum children decided to return with the Furlings to their new home, hundreds more left to live with the Nox, the remaining Novum wished to make a fresh start and with the help of the Earth alliance they were relocated back to their original home planet of Sehabo where they remain under constant supervision to ensure their well-being.

Alisana has been on Earth for the past 6 months, upon arriving on Earth she was immediately approached and interrogated by the IOA who wanted to know everything she knew and kept her locked in a tiny room at the SGC for 5 days.

When General O'Neill returned from the alpha site and discovered what the IOA were doing, he told the IOA in a not so polite manner to "Leave her alone.". Since then Alisana has been trained by all of SG-1 in areas of combat, survival, mission protocols and reading up on all the SGC's previous missions through the gate.

A room at the SGC has been converted to accommodate Alisana and give her her own personal quarters, General O'Neill has been pleased with her progress and after months of training he feels she's ready to go on her first official mission through the gate.

**Mission**: Investigate previously unexplored world

**Planet Designation**: P3X-720

**Day and Time of departure**: Thursday, 10:00 AM

**Assigned Team**: SG-1

* * *

Alisana is in her quarters sleeping, she's face down and a white blanket completely covers her, the alarm clock on the table next to her bed starts beeping and the clock reads 10:08 AM. A lump begins to move underneath the blanket and Alisana's arm slowly sweeps out and feels around the table, her hand bangs on the table a few times as she searches for the loud beeping clock, she eventually finds it and switches it off, then her arm sweeps back under the blanket with a groan.

A minute passes by and suddenly Alisana's head lifts up still covered by the blanket and she looks over to the clock, it now reads 10:10 AM, she grabs the clock and quickly turns around and sits up in shock of the time.

"Oh no." she says.

She slams the clock back on the table, throws off the blanket and jumps out of bed wearing a white vest and shorts and runs to the sink, after turning on a tap she splashes cold water on her face and looks in the mirror blowing a droplet of water off the tip of her nose.

She quickly turns around "Clothes!" she says, and she goes over to a chair with her pants slumped over them, she picks them up and after placing both feet in the legs she jumps up and down and squeezes in to them, then she runs around the bed searching for her socks, she picks up the socks and sits on the bed while she puts them on, she lifts up the blanket that's draped over the side of the bed and looks under it, she see the shoes at the opposite side so jumps back on the bed and crawls over it.

She picks up her shoes and jacket from the back of the chair and runs out of the door. She runs down the halls of the SGC while putting on her jacket, slowing down occasionally trying to put on her shoes, as she runs slightly past a nurse in the hall and sees she's carrying a cup of coffee, she turns and takes the cup from her and walks around in a circle as she drinks from it, she then passes it back to the nurse, "Thank you." she shouts as she runs down the hall leaving the nurse a little bemused as she stares in to her nearly empty cup.

As she approaches the mess hall, Daniel Jackson is walking out holding a large bunch of files and has a slice of toast in his mouth, Alisana snatches the toast from his mouth as she runs by, "Morning, Daniel." she shouts as she continues running through the halls.

"Hey!...morning." says Daniel as he turns around heading back in to the mess hall, "Can I get some more toast please." he says as he approaches the counter.

Alisana runs in to the gate room and stands in line next to Carter, Mitchell, Teal'c and Vala who have been waiting for her for nearly 15 minutes, "Hey." says Alisana and they all turn their heads and look at her as she stands there with a piece of toast in her mouth and doing up her jacket.

"What time do you call this?" asks Mitchell while looking at his watch.

"Sorry." replies Alisana, "Over slept." she adds.

Carter leans forward, "Alisana, you have to be punctual." she says, sounding a little disappointed.

Alisana removes the toast from her mouth, "I'm sorry, it won't happen again." she says, sounding very genuine.

"Well as this is your first mission I'll let you off just this once, but it's important that you be on time and that you take it seriously." says Carter.

As Vala starts rubbing Alisana's hair in an attempt to straighten it for her, Mitchell looks back "OK Dial it up." he shouts to Walter in the control room behind him.

"Where are we going?" shouts Alisana while eating the toast, trying to be heard over the noisy mechanics of the gate.

"P3X-720." replies Carter.

"Chevron seven locked." announces Walter, and the gate activates.

Mitchell puts in his ear piece, "Ok, let's go." he says, Teal'c is the first to head up the ramp and the rest follow. Carter walks up the ramp with Alisana, "Remember stay close to us, this planet is unexplored so we don't know what's out there." says Carter, "I will." replies Alisana and they step through the gate.

* * *

They arrive through the gate on P3X-720, they arrive in a clearing surrounded by a lush forest, directly in front of the gate lays a long path heading in to the distance.

Mitchell looks around the immediate area, "So...path number one?" he says, indicating to the path before them.

"Path number one it is." replies Carter.

Alisana stands in front of the gate turning slowly in a circle as she looks all around with a gentle smile on her face, "It's beautiful." she says.

Carter looks back, "Come on." she says kindly as she beckons Alisana forward.

Alisana runs to catch up to the others and they head off down the path, Alisana and Vala have a laugh and joke with each other and picking up flowers as they walk and placing them in each others hair.

As they all continue down the path they spot something strange between two trees, Mitchell steps over to the trees, looking down he sees a small crystal formation sticking out of the ground, a central crystal surrounded by sprouting crystals in the shape of a flower, Carter joins him near the trees, "What do you make of this?" asks Mitchell.

Carter looks and examines the crystal, "I don't know, I've never seen crystals like this before, certainly not above the ground." she says while looking at them with curiosity.

Just then they hear a rustle in the trees opposite them, Mitchell swings around and Teal'c steps back lowering his staff weapon, as the sound gets closer Teal'c readies his staff, "Get down." whispers Mitchell indicating to the others to get down.

They see the branches moving in front of them and then a woman appears from the bushes in old rag clothing and carrying a straw basket, "Don't move." shouts Mitchell as he focuses his P90 on her, the woman lets out a small scream and drops a basket on the floor as she raises her arms in fear.

"Please, don't hurt me." says the woman, shaking and trembling.

Mitchell slowly moves closer to her and looks at the ground, the basket is on the floor turned on it's side, berries lay scattered on the floor around it, "It's OK" he says to the others as he lowers his weapon.

Teal'c disables his staff and he and Carter walk over to the woman, "Sorry, we didn't mean to frighten you." says Carter as she bends down to pick up the basket, she hands the woman the basket who cautiously takes it from Carter.

"Who..who are you?" asks the woman.

"We're explorers, we came through the Stargate." replies Carter, "The big ring back there." she adds as she points back down the path.

"Oh the ring?." questions the woman.

"Yes." says Carter, "I'm Sam, this is Cam, Teal'c, Vala and Alisana" she adds, as she points to the others in turn.

They all say hello to the woman reassuringly, the woman smiles then tells them her name, "I'm Sheris" she says.

"Let me help you." says Vala, and she and Alisana bend down and start picking up berries and placing them in the basket.

"Oh thank you, they're just berries I can get more." says Sheris, "Were you heading to the village?" she asks.

"Village?, yes we were." replies Mitchell.

Sheris smiles a little then gets on the path, "Come, I will take you to the village." she says, they all once again head down the path following Sheris.

As they reach the end of the path they exit the forest into a large clearing, they see a small village with several buildings made of stone walls, thatched roofs and wooden doors and windows, in the center of the village is a circular stone about 10 feet in diameter and 1 foot high, protruding from the middle of the stone is a large green crystal about 50 feet high towering over the village.

"Bartel, we have visitors." shouts Sheris to a man carrying wooden logs.

Bartel turns around and sees Sheris enter the village with SG-1, he places the logs on the ground and walks over to them, "Hello there." he says.

"Hello." says Carter, "Hi" says Mitchell, "I'm Vala, Vala Mal Doran" says Vala while leaning forward and shaking his hand repeatedly, "That thing is amazing, what is it?" asks Vala while staring up at the large crystal.

Bartel looks over his shoulder where Vala is looking, "Oh that, that's the beucium." he says.

"It's very impressive." says Vala.

"Thank you, thank you." says Bartel with a friendly smile, "So what brings you to Yovita?" he asks.

"Yovita?" questions Mitchell.

"Our village." replies Bartel.

"Ooh, well we're explorers and err...to be honest we didn't know you were here, we were just following the path through the forest when we met Sheris, she invited us to come along and meet you folks." says Mitchell.

"Well you are most welcome here." says Bartel, "Please." he says as he points in to the village inviting SG-1 to join them as they start walking.

"That thing is huge." whispers Alisana as she walks beside Teal'c.

Teal'c looks at the crystal, "Indeed." he replies.

They slowly walk through the village and everyone says hello to each other as pass by, they seem very friendly and welcoming, the villages appear to be setting up some type of party.

"You arrived at a very special time, we're preparing for our annual gathering at the beucium, this year we're celebrating our 100th cycle." says Bartel.

"A centenary?" asks Carter.

"Yes." replies Bartel, "It isn't until tomorrow, but if you can stay you're more than welcome to join us." he adds.

Carter looks at Mitchell, "Sure, sounds like fun." says Mitchell, Carter looks back at Bartel, "We'd love too." she says with a smile.

"Wonderful." says Bartel, "Oh err...Marek." shouts Bartel to a young boy hammering some wood.

The boy puts down his hammer and comes over, "This is my son, Marek." says Bartel, "This is errm...I'm sorry I didn't get your names." he adds.

"Cam, Sam, Alisana, Vala and the big guy is Teal'c." says Mitchell.

"Nice to meet you all." says Marek as he and Alisana share a blushing look, which doesn't go unnoticed by the others.

"They're explorers, they have decided to join us for the gathering tomorrow." explains Bartel.

"How are the preparations coming?" asks Bartel.

"I'm almost finished with the benches, father, then we can begin painting them." says Marek.

"They look great." says Alisana with a smile.

"Thank you." replies Marek, "Would you...like to help me paint them?" he asks.

Alisana looks at Carter, "Is it OK?" she asks, "Sure. But..." says Carter who is interrupted by Alisana, "I know, stay close." she says, and she walks off with Marek towards the benches.

"We'll have to keep an eye on those two." says Vala.

"Yep." says Carter.

Sheris sees a few villagers standing near a pile of logs like they're waiting for something at the far end of the village, "Bartel." she says as she points to them.

"Oh!, I forgot the logs. *laugh* ..forgive me, it will be dark soon, Sheris could you show them to the house, I'm certain you will be comfortable there for the night." says Bartel and he walks away.

"Thank you, that's very generous." says Carter.

"The house is just over here." says Sheris, and she takes them to the house.


	2. Chapter 2

Marek and Alisana are kneeling at opposite sides of the benches Marek just built and they have various pots filled with different colours on the ground beside them and Marek begins to paint.

"Which village are you from?" asks Marek.

"We don't come from a village, we came through the Stargate." replies Alisana.

Marek lowers his brush, "Stargate?" he asks with curiosity.

Alisana giggles, "Oh sorry, the ring in the forest." she says.

"Really?, where does the ring go?" asks Marek.

"It goes to many different places, we came through it from a planet called Earth." says Alisana, "Haven't you ever been through it?" she asks.

Marek starts painting again, "No, no one has. I have always wondered about it though." he replies.

"Well, may be one day you could visit Earth." says Alisana.

"I would like that." replies Marek with a smile.

Alisana smiles back at him, "So what should I paint?" she asks.

"You can paint whatever you want." says Marek, and they both get on painting.

* * *

The rest of SG-1 are inside Sheris house, it's a basic layout with wooden tables and chairs, a stove fireplace sits against the back wall and a wooden staircase leads up to the first floor, Sheris shows them up the stairs.

"You have a lovely home." says Carter.

"Thank you." says Sheris as she opens a door to a large room.

In the room are three beds, lined with straw and covered with blankets.

"I hope this is OK, it is all we have." says Sheris.

"It's fine thank you, it's more than enough." says Carter.

"I will leave you to get settled and I'll go start dinner." says Sheris, she leaves them and heads back down stairs.

They stand in the room and look around, "Three beds." says Mitchell, "For five of us." he adds.

"Top and tail?" says Vala while nudging Teal'c arm.

Teal'c lifts his eyebrow looking a little worried, "I will sleep on the floor." he says.

"OK, Vala, Alisana and I will take the beds, you guys take the floor." says Carter.

"Wait what, why do you get the beds?" asks Mitchell.

"It's the gentlemen thing to do." says Carter, "And I out rank you." she adds with a cheeky smirk.

Mitchell stands a little shocked for a moment, "Fair enough." he says.

"It looks like it's getting dark, why don't you go get Alisana and we'll work something out here." says Carter.

"Yes Ma'am." says Mitchell in a funny tone of voice.

* * *

Marek and Alisana have been outside painting for a while and night is slowly falling, Marek stands up and goes around the other side of the bench to see what Alisana has been painting.

Marek looks at her side of the bench, he sees loads of shaky coloured patterns, "Wow, that's...good." he says.

"No it's not." replies Alisana, "I've never been much of an artist." she adds.

"You're right, it's not. It's terrible." says Marek with a laugh.

Alisana gasps and looks slightly insulted, "Hey!" she says, then she flicks her brush at him causing paint to land on his face, she laughs, "Oops." she says.

Marek wipes the paint off his face and the laughs back, "Are you trying to make me look as bad as your paintings." he says jokingly.

"Oh OK, well let's see what you've done." says Alisana as they walk around to Marek's side of the bench.

Alisana giggles and points at the bench, "You've barely painted anything, it's all red, and they're not even patterns. At least mine has lots of colour on it." she says.

Marek shrugs his shoulders, "That's because you could paint what you wanted, I had to stick with traditional paintings." he says.

At that moment, Bartel heads towards his house and Mitchell steps out of the door.

"Marek, time to come inside son." shouts Bartel.

"Yep, you too Alisana let's go." shouts Mitchell.

Bartel and Mitchell head back inside the house, "Kids." says Bartel as he passes Mitchell.

"Be right there." replies Marek, "We should head inside" he says.

"Yeah, right behind you." says Alisana as she places her brush in a pot on the floor, as she looks back at Marek's paintings she notices something about them, it's like she recognises them, she hears Marek call her from behind so she heads toward the house and goes inside.

* * *

Night has fallen on the village and everyone went back to Bartel's house, they enjoy a nice vegetable stew and after some light conversation they decide to call it a night and head up to bed, Carter, Vala and Alisana get the beds, Mitchell takes a spot on the floor and Teal'c appears to be enjoying sitting in a wooden rocking chair by the window.

Carter and Vala lay on their beds while Alisana takes off her shoes and sits cross legged at the head of her bed, "So...did you have fun with Marek?" asks Carter.

"Sure." replies Alisana with a grin.

"He's cute don't you think." says Vala, "Oh yes, he's very handsome." says Carter, they're both winding Alisana up.

Mitchell who's laying on the floor sits up slightly, "Will you three knock it off, It's bad enough I have to sleep on the floor, I don't want to listen to girl chatter all night." he says.

"You know you don't have to sleep on the floor, plenty of room in here." says Vala seductively.

"I'm good thanks." replies Mitchell, who rolls on his side turning away.

"How about you, muscles?" says Vala while looking at Teal'c, "Suit yourself." she adds as Teal'c looks away.

It all goes quiet for a few minutes, "So did you kiss him yet?" blurts Carter.

"No." replies Alisana laughing and throwing a small cushion at Carter.

After the laughter dies down, Alisana is still sitting on her bed, "Sam...did you see any devices anywhere in the village?" she asks quietly.

"No, why?" replies Carter.

"It's just the bench Marek and I were painting, Marek said he was painting traditional designs on them, but they didn't look like random designs, they resembled Alteran symbols." says Alisana.

Carter rolls on her side and props her head up with her arm, "Alteran symbols...are you sure?" she asks.

"Yes, but the symbols aren't a spoken language, they're used in Alteran technology." replies Alisana.

"Really, what did the symbols mean?" asks Carter.

Alisana shakes her head, "I don't know, there wasn't enough of them to tell." she says.

"Well these people don't look like they have any technology, it was getting dark out, are you sure you saw what you saw?" asks Carter.

Alisana laughs lightly, "Yeah, you're probably right, it's been a long day." she says, "Let's get some sleep." she adds.

"Don't worry about it." says Carter, "Good night" she adds as she and everyone settles down to get some sleep for the night.

Everyone in the village is now fast asleep, the sounds of nocturnal animals and insects echo through the night air, the sound is soothing and quite peaceful.

While SG-1 sleep, a green glow sneaks in through the windows and gently lights up the room, Teal'c who is sitting in the rocking chair next to the windows is awoken by the glow just as it dims, he stands up and looks out of the window but doesn't see anything.

* * *

As dawn breaks on the village and sunlight fills the bedroom, a knock is heard at the door, the door opens half way and Sheris peeps her head around, "Morning." she says in a happy tone of voice.

Carter is the first to wake up, "Good morning, Sheris." she says.

"Did you sleep well?" asks Sheris.

"Yes, thank you." says Carter as she stands out of bed and stretches.

A loud groan is heard from the floor as Mitchell sits up, "Ooor...ouw.." groans Mitchell holding his back.

Vala is next to sit up and she stretches out her arms as she yawns, "Aaah, I feel very refreshed." she says with a smile.

Mitchell looks at Vala with a little hatred in his eyes, "I'm happy for ya." he says, "Help me up Carter." he says while holding out his arm, as Carter helps Mitchell off the floor she asks Vala to wake up Alisana.

Vala gets out of bed and bends down beside Alisana's bed, "Alisana, wake uuup" she says, she gets no response so she turns and hops backwards on to Alisana's bed in a seated possition, "Wake up, wake up, wake up." she says while bouncing up and down on the bed.

"Va...Val...Vala...Vala." mutters Alisana while having the air knocked out of her, Vala stops bouncing, "What?" she says.

"You're sitting on me...I can't..breathe." says Alisana.

"Oh!" says Vala as she quickly stands up, "Sorry." she says. As Alisana sits up panting for breath, Vala looks at her with a 'oops' teeth gritting smile on her face, "I'm awake." says Alisana.

Sheris gently laughs, "Breakfast will be outside in the village this morning, please take your time, join us when you're ready." she says.

"We'll do that, thank you." says Mitchell, clearly having back pain from sleeping on the floor, "Where are you going?" he says as Teal'c walks towards the door.

"To relieve myself." says Teal'c

"Oh...ok" replies Mitchell.

Vala also makes her way out running on her tip toes, "That's a good idea actually, right behind you muscles." she says.

Outside in the village, tables have been set up behind the beucium (the large crystal in the center of the village), decorative cloths cover drape over the tables and plates of food and drinks fill spread out across them, people come from other villages to join the celebrations.

Bartel approaches SG-1 as they walk towards the beucium, "Morning" he shouts, holding out his arms filled with happiness and joy of this special day.

"Morning Bartel." says Carter.

Vala approaches with Teal'c, "Morning, that's a lovely spring you have." she says with a smile, "They have a little sprint flowing through their bathroom" she says facing Carter.

Bartel laughs, "Oh yes...we built that for Sheris, she found it more convenient to wash our garments in the house." he says.

"Garments?" asks Vala.

"I assume you're referring to the spring in our laundry room." says Bartel.

Vala's smile slowly disappears from her face, "Laundry room?...Yes of course." she says with a worried laugh, "I'll be right back." she adds and she runs back to the house.

Mitchell leans sideways to Carter, "She didn't?" he asks.

"I think she did." replies Carter.

Mitchell shuts his eyes in disbelief then shakes it off, "I need to head back to the gate and check in with the SGC." he says, "God." he mutters as he walks away.

"Please, come and join us. The celebrations begin in a few hours." says Bartel as he leads them over to the other villagers by the tables.


	3. Chapter 3

Mitchell went to the Stargate and dialled Earth for SG-1's scheduled check-in, he informed the SGC of what they found and that they were staying for the celebrations in order to build a relationship with the people of P3X-720.

Back in Yovita, the village celebrations are getting under way as it approaches midday, hundreds of people from villages all over the planet are gathering around the beucium, a number of them are dancing in circles while a band using primitive instruments plays music in the background.

SG-1 are sitting on one of the tables watching the festivities and clapping and dancing along in their seats, Teal'c stands beside them looking like...well he looks like his usual cheery self.

As they watch the villagers holding hands and dancing around the beucium in a spiral like pattern, Marek breaks away and walks over to the table, he bows in front of Alisana, "Would you like to dance?" he asks.

Alisana smiles and blushes a little, then looks at Carter who gives her a gentle nudge to encourage her to get up and dance, she then looks at Vala who's taking a big gulp from a cup and nodding back at Alisana.

"I'd love too." says Alisana.

Marek stands up and reaches out and holds Alisana's hand, he helps her up and they walk over to the dancers, as a space opens up they join hands with them and start dancing around.

* * *

Mitchell finally makes it back and takes a seat, he groans a little as he sits down with his back still aching from sleeping on the floor, "What did I miss?" he asks.

Carter reaches to the table behind her and passes Mitchell a drink, "Not much, everyone started dancing about an hour ago and they haven't stopped." she says.

"Looks exhausting." says Mitchell as he has a drink.

"Nah..it's only a bit of fun. Look, Alisana's enjoying herself." says Carter as she points to the dancers.

"Mitchell, come and dance with us." shouts Alisana as she dances past.

"No thanks I'm good right here." replies Mitchell, "Looking good though." he adds while holding his cup in the air.

Carter smiles then gets up and takes the cup off of Mitchell, she places it on the table and then grabs both his hands, "I was drinking that, what are ya doing?" asks Mitchell.

"Lets dance." says Carter.

Mitchell shakes his head, "No..Sam.." he says, "I can't dance." he adds.

"Come on" says Carter as she forcibly pulls him to his feet and drags him over to the dancers.

"Sam, my back is killing me, I don't think I can do ….wohw!" says Mitchell as one of the dancers grabs his hand and pulls him and Carter in to the circle.

Vala sees the fun they're having and stands up, she looks at Teal'c, "What do you say muscles, up for it?" she says.

"I do not dance." replies Teal'c, stubborn as ever.

"Your loss." says Vala, and she runs over and breaks in to the circle and starts dancing.

* * *

They dance around and around for nearly an hour, thoroughly enjoying themselves, Bartel sees the shadow cast by the beucium on the ground, he looks up and realises the time, he tells the music players to stop playing.

"Everyone...everyone" shouts Bartel while clapping and raising his arms to get their attention.

They all stop dancing and look over to Bartel.

"Midday approaches, it's time to gather." says Bartel.

As everyone swiftly breaks the circle and dashes about, Carter, Alisana, Vala and Mitchell head back to the table laughing and smiling.

"What's going on now?" asks Vala.

"No idea." replies Carter, "Are you alright?" she asks while laughing at Mitchell as he sits down exhausted.

"Fine, yeah. Got a drink here somewhere." replies Mitchell.

They watch as the villagers gather in lines at the brightest side of the beucium and kneel on the ground, all goes silent for a few minutes and then the sun hits its highest peak, it's midday.

As the suns light beams down on the beucium, the villages look up to the skies, the light shines on it's tip, then thousands of small crystals start sprouting around and up the beucium, the crystals are all different colours, every colour you can imagine.

"Wow." says Alisana as she gazes at the beautiful sight.

"Oh my God." says Carter in absolute amazement.

Vala, Mitchell and Teal'c stand in awe of what they're seeing.

As the sprouting crystals reach the top of the beucium, light floods its central column and filters out through the smaller crystals, beams of multicoloured light spread out covering a massive area all around the village, like a disco ball or laser show they beam on the ground, people, buildings and the sky.

Alisana looks at herself and the others, all of them have coloured light shining all over them, she holds out her hands to see the patterns shining on them, "It's beautiful." she says.

"Amazing." says Carter with a big smile.

Everyone watches in awe of the lights, the sun slowly moves away and the lights from the beucium slowly dims, as it does, the smaller crystals retreat back in to the beucium, within a matter of minutes the sun has passed and the lights are gone.

The villagers get to their feet and start smiling and hugging with happiness and celebration, Bartel, Sheris and Marek walk hand in hand towards SG-1 with pure joy on their faces.

"Did you see it?" asks Bartel.

"Yeah it was..great. What was that?" says Mitchell.

"That was the beucium lights." replies Sheris.

Carter is still staring at the beucium, "I've never seen anything so...so beautiful." she says.

"Yes, thank you for sharing it with us." says Vala.

Marek steps over to Alisana, "Did you like it?" he asks.

Alisana looks up and down constantly and shakes her head slightly in amazement, "I..I loved it." she says smiling.

Bartel looks at Teal'c, "How was it?" he asks.

"Impressive." replies Teal'c, and he bows in respect.

"Come. The celebrations are not over yet." says Bartel, he turns and raises his arms with joy, "Play the music." he shouts.

* * *

The celebrations continue for many hours after the gathering, more dancing, drinking and laughing and joking make it a true party atmosphere that goes on until darkness begins to fall.

As night draws in, it's time for SG-1 to return to Earth, they stand at the path with Sheris, Marek and Bartel.

"Sorry we have to go so soon, but it was an amazing celebration and we're truly honoured to have been a part of it." says Carter.

"You're welcome." says Sheris.

Carter and Vala hug Sheris, Teal'c and Mitchell shake Bartel's hand.

Alisana is a few feet away standing with Marek, "Must you go so soon?" asks Marek.

"We have to report back soon." says Alisana, "But we can come back and visit some day." she adds.

"I would like that very much." says Marek, he places a chain made of flowers over Alisana's head, "A souvenir of the day." he says.

Alisana looks and touches the chain around her kneck, "Thank you, it's beautiful." she says, then they smile at each other and share a long hug.

"Alisana, time to go." shouts Carter.

Alisana stops hugging Marek, "Coming" she shouts, and she starts walking away.

SG-1 make their way along the path through the forest, waving goodbye to Sheris, Bartel and Marek.

"That's very nice." says Vala, commenting on Alisana's flower chain.

"Yeah." replies Alisana.

They reach the Stargate and dial Earth, once the gate activates they send the GDO signal and step through, they arrive through the gate at the SGC, laughing, joking and a little hungover as they walk down the ramp.

"Welcome back SG-1." says Walter over the speakers.

"Good to be back." says Mitchell, waving to Walter in the control room.

"I'm going to miss that place." says Carter.

"I won't miss the dancing, I'll tell you that." says Mitchell, "And I can't wait to get on a nice soft mattress." he adds.

"Anyone for coffee?" asks Vala.

"Oh yeah." replies Carter.

As they reach the bottom of the ramp and turn to head out of the gate room, the Stargate deactivates, at the exact moment the gate shuts down, SG-1 disappear from the gate room like ghosts.

Walter saw what just happened and in a state of panic he activates the base alarms and gets on the radio, "General O'Neill to the gate room." he shouts.

Moments after they disappeared from the gate room, SG-1 appear back in the village of Yovita next to the beucium.

"Alright...what the heck is going on?" asks Mitchell.

They all just stand there looking at each other in shock and confusion.


	4. Chapter 4

As SG-1 stand there trying to figure out what just happened, Bartel sees them and walks over.

"You're back so soon, did you forget something?" asks Bartel.

"Do you know what just happened to us?" asks Carter.

Bartel looks at them as confused as they are, "What do you mean." he says.

"Errm.." says Carter, she turns to Mitchell, "You know what, we should get back to the gate." she says.

"Right." says Mitchell, "Lets go." he says and they all start running back to the gate.

"You're leaving again?" shouts Bartel.

"Sorry, Bartel. We can't stay." shouts Carter.

They reach the gate, dial Earth and head through once more.

O'Neill is at the SGC and he just made it in to the control room, "What's going on?" he asks.

"Sir, SG-1 returned from P3X-720 and then they just disappeared sir." explains Walter.

"Disappeared?" asks O'Neill.

"Yes Sir." replies Walter.

"Well where did they disappear to?" asks O'Neill.

"I don't know Sir, one second they were there, the next they were gone." replies Walter, then the gate activates, "Incoming." says Walter.

"Who is it?" asks O'Neill as the gate connection opens.

Walter looks at the ID screen, "It's...SG-1." he says, puzzled.

SG-1 appear through the gate, "See, there they are." says O'Neill, he makes his way down to the gate room to meet them.

"Hey guys, Walter reckons you disappeared on him." says O'Neill as he enters the gate room.

"I think we did Sir." says Mitchell.

"We came back and then...we were on P3X-720 again." says Carter.

Now O'Neill looks confused, he leans towards Vala and sniffs, "Had a little err..drink there have ya?" he says.

"We're not drunk Sir." says Carter.

Vala holds up her hand, "I'm a little drunk" she says and smiles at O'Neill.

"I didn't drink anything." says Alisana, making sure he knows.

"Well you're back now, lets get up to the briefing room and you can tell me all about it." says O'Neill.

"Yes Sir." says Carter.

As they follow O'Neill out of the gate room, the gate deactivates and once again SG-1 disappear.

"You know, we're going to have to..." says O'Neill, "Carter?" he says as he looks over his shoulder and sees SG-1 isn't there any more.

SG-1 reappear once again in the village of Yovita standing at the base of the beucium, looking as confused as before.

"This is the worst hangover ever." complains Vala.

* * *

They stand looking around and the villagers stare back at them not knowing what is going on, back at the SGC, O'Neill makes his way back to the control room with feelings of panic and urgency, he orders Walter to dial P3X-720 so he can attempt to make contact with them.

When the gate opens, O'Neill hunches down at the microphone, "SG-1 come in." he says, nothing is heard back so he tries again, "SG-1 this is Stargate Command, if you're there please respond..over." he says.

Mitchell hears his fuzzy words over the radio, he turns and takes a few steps towards the forest, "General, this is Mitchell." he says.

O'Neill takes a breath of relief, "Are you alright?" he asks.

"Yes Sir, we're all fine...we're back in the village again." replies Mitchell.

O'Neill takes a seat next to Walter, "Good to hear it." he says, "So what's going on?" he adds.

At this point Carter gets on the radio, "Sir, we don't know." she says.

"Do you want me to send a team to help?" asks O'Neill.

"No don't do that Sir, we don't know what's going on yet and there's no point putting others at risk." replies Carter, "We'll try to figure it out." she adds.

O'Neill thinks to himself for a moment, he's concerned about them but knows that Carter is the best person to figure out what's going on, "OK, Carter. We have teams off world scheduled to return soon so we can't keep the gate open. We'll dial up every hour for updates." he says.

"Understood Sir." replies Carter.

"Figure this thing out and come home." says O'Neill, "Good luck SG-1." he adds, then he signals to Walter to shut down the gate.

Mitchell is feeling frustrated, he sees Bartel standing a short distance away and walks towards him, "You...what did you do to us?" he shouts.

Bartel watches Mitchell approach him and gets a little afraid, "I don't know what you mean." he says shaking his head.

"Oh I think you do." says Mitchell, as he gets to Bartel he reaches out in anger and grabs him by the collar, "What did you do to us?" he shouts.

"Nothing..nothing." says Bartel, "Please, I swear." he adds.

The others rush over when they see what's happening.

"Cam...Cam STOP." says Carter, she places her hand on his shoulder, "Look at him, he doesn't know anything." she says, "Cam." she adds in a calming tone.

Mitchell loosens his grip and lets go, Bartel takes a few breaths as he rubs the front of his kneck, "I don't know what is happening." says Bartel.

"Let's all just calm down and think about this for a second." says Carter, "This happened when we returned to Earth after the celebrations, both times we disappeared from the SGC, we reappeared right here next to the beucium, it must be connected to what's happening to us." she says.

Alisana walks over to the beucium and starts walking around it, "OK if the beucium is the causing this, then how and why?" she says.

Carter turns to look at Alisana, "Let's take a look and see if we can find anything." she says, Carter, Teal'c and Vala go over to the beucium and start looking around it, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

Bartel is joined by Sheris and Marek who share every ones confusion, Mitchell seems to calm a little and looks at Bartel who looks back at him still lightly rubbing his kneck, "I'm sorry." says Mitchell, Bartel just nods back.

They look at and study the beucium for quite some time, searching all around the circular platform and the central crystal as much as they can, studying every inch and even the ground around it, but come up empty handed, all they see is a plain stone platform with a crystal towering above it.

"Find anything?" asks Vala.

"Nothing." replies Teal'c.

Carter stands up and takes a frustrated breath, "There's nothing here." she says.

* * *

Alisana walks over to Marek, "Marek." she says, "Those paintings you did on the benches, do they mean anything?." she asks.

Marek shakes his head, "Not that I know of, they're just traditional paintings, we do them every year as we have for generations." he says.

"Well where did that tradition come from?" asks Alisana, "I mean if they've been passed down through generations then some one must have show you how to paint them, they must have originated from somewhere, have you seen any other paintings like that anywhere else?." she adds.

Marek thinks for a moment, "No, I haven't." he says.

As Alisana lowers her head thinking she's hit another dead end, Bartel speaks, "I have seen them." he says.

"You have?" asks Alisana as she raises her head.

Carter was listening and comes over to them, "Where?" she asks.

"There is a cave." says Bartel.

Sheris doesn't approve of Bartel telling them about the cave, "Bartel!" she whispers with concern, Bartel holds and taps Sheris hand in comfort, "It's alright." he says.

"It has the traditional symbols carved in to the walls." says Bartel.

Alisana and Carter look at each other for a moment, "Where is this cave?" asks Carter.

"It is down by the riverbed." replies Bartel as he points in the direction of the cave.

All of SG-1 swiftly walk off towards the river, "Thanks" says Alisana as they head away.

"But it is forbidden, you must not enter." shouts Bartel.

"We'll be fine." shouts Mitchell.

Bartel, Sheris and Marek share a look of concern as they stand and watch SG-1 head towards the river.

* * *

SG-1 reach the edge of the village and follow a short winding path through some trees to get to the river, it's getting darker as night draws in so they pull out their torches to see where they're going, after reaching the end of the path they come to a ridge about 6 feet high, one by one they jump down to the shallow riverbed below, Carter, Vala and Alisana are helped down by Mitchell and Teal'c.

Safely on the riverbed they look around and see a small channel of water flowing in to the mouth of the cave, "There it is." says Alisana as she points, they head over to it, splashing the river water with their feet as they go.

When they reach the mouth of the cave they stop and gather, looking around with the light from their torches they see symbols carved in to the sides of the cave walls, wet and jagged rocks all around, the eerie sound of the water flowing through their feet echoes through the cave, the light doesn't quite illuminate the inside of the cave, they can see a few feet ahead of them but it's completely dark inside, "Come on." says Alisana as she rushes forward.

"Wohw...wohw, hold it." says Mitchell as he grabs the back of her jacket and gently pulls her back.

"What?" asks Alisana.

"Teal'c and I will go first" says Mitchell, "You follow behind." he adds.

Alisana shakes her head feeling a little bit stupid that she didn't consider they could be danger ahead before rushing forward, "Yes, ..sorry." she says.

"Don't worry about it." says Mitchell as he and Teal'c take the lead and the rest follow through the mouth of the cave, "Move slow and stay close." he says.

Walking through the cave they see more wet rock, roots from the trees in the forest above them hang from the top of the cave wall, the cave appears to twist and turn towards the village as they continue walking, they hear a loud belch from behind that echoes through the cave, they turn around to see Vala with her hand over her mouth trying not to look guilty.

Vala removes her hand and smiles through her teeth, "Sorry." she says, *Hiccup*.

"Jeesh, Vala." says Mitchell as they continue pushing forward, Carter and Alisana giggle.

They move on for a few more minutes, then as Mitchell reaches a turn in the cave he sees a light around the corner, he holds up his hand in a fist indicating to the others to stop.

"What is it?" asks Carter.

"Not sure, stay here we'll check it out." replies Mitchell, "Teal'c" he says.

Mitchell and Teal'c slowly walk around the corner, the light gets brighter as the get closer, as they fully turn the corner they see a large cavern lit up with hundreds of tiny crystals protruding from the walls, "It's OK" shouts Mitchell back to the others and they all move forward.

As they enter the brightly lit cavern they see crystals all along the walls, in the center of the cavern is a large white cylinder shaped object, part of a large green crystal sticks through the ceiling and into the large cylinder below.

"We must be right underneath the beucium." says Alisana while looking up at the green crystal.

Carter was looking at the green crystal but then lowers her head to look at the cylinder, "I agree, question is...what is this thing." she says, "Looks like Ancient design." she adds.

"OK Sam, you're up. Try and figure out what this thing is." says Mitchell, "General O'Neill will be checking in in a few minutes but we'll never get a reception in these caves, I'll head outside and let him know what's going on." he adds.

"Right." says Carter, she looks at Alisana, "Come on, lets take a look at this thing." she says.


	5. Chapter 5

After examining the cylinder for a while they agree that it's definitely of Ancient design and it must be some type of device, removing a panel from the side of the cylinder they see coloured stick like crystals and rectangular translucent crystals similar in design to those used in the technology found on Atlantis.

Carter and Alisana are kneeling on the floor next to the cylinder, Carter grabs her backpack and pulls out a laptop, using a specially designed interface cable she attaches it to one of the rectangular crystals.

"What's that for?" asks Alisana.

Carter briefly looks at Alisana with a smile, "It allows us to interface with alien devices, in this case an Ancient device. Specially designed software developed by myself and Dr McKay translates the information and allows us to see what the device is for and what it's doing." she says.

"Cool." says Alisana.

"Cool?, you're spending way too much time with General O'Neill." says Carter with a laugh.

Carter successfully interfaces with the device and information starts appearing on the laptop, "Oook." she says, she can tell that the device is using a lot of power and generating some type of signal, other than that there doesn't appear to be much going on with the device.

"Can I see?" asks Alisana.

"Sure." says Carter and she passes the laptop to Alisana.

Carter stands up just as Mitchell returns to the cavern, he informs her that he made contact with the SGC and he updated them on the situation.

"So what did you find out about this thing?" asks Mitchell.

Carter puts one hand on her hip and scratches her head with the other, "Not much, we know it's Ancient but that's about all we know so far." she says.

Alisana is kneeling at the opposite side of the cylinder, she has the laptop on the ground checking through the information, as she accesses a section of the information, the screen of the laptop is flooded with a massive amount of data.

"Err..Sam." says Alisana, she looks over the cylinder towards Carter, "Sam" she shouts waving her hand.

Carter and Mitchell rush around, "What is it?" asks Carter.

"Look." says Alisana, pointing at the laptop screen.

Carter bends down and picks up the laptop, "Wow." she says.

"Did you find something?" asks Mitchell.

"Yes." says Carter, "This thing is transmitting a massive amount of information." she adds.

"OK, what is it transmitting?" asks Mitchell.

"Not a clue." replies Carter.

Alisana stands up between Carter and Mitchell, she holds up a screwdriver, "I think I do." she says, then she walks around to the side of the cylinder, she starts using the screwdriver to pull off one of the panels.

"Alisana what are you doing?" shouts Carter.

Alisana manages to pull of the panel, "Hoping I'm wrong." she replies. Behind the panel are hundreds of very small blue crystals in perfect alignment, she reaches in and holds a red crystal at the top of the others, she tightly closes her eyes and twists the crystal.

As Alisana twists the red crystal, they all disappear from the cavern and yet again appear standing in the village next to the beucium.

Vala, Teal'c, Mitchell and Carter look around in shock, then turn and face Alisana.

Alisana bites her lip and gently smiles, "Nope...I wasn't wrong." she says.

* * *

"What did you do?" asks Carter.

"I interrupted the devices power supply." replies Alisana, "Which brought us back here." she adds.

"How did you know it would do that?" asks Carter.

Alisana walks over to Carter who is still holding the laptop, she brings up some information on the screen and highlights a portion of it, "That. I've seen that before." says Alisana.

"What is it?" asks Carter.

"I didn't make the connection when they told us the name of the village." says Alisana, she points to the highlighted information on the laptop, "This says Izoyovita. In old Alteran, it means to simulate life." she says.

"What does that mean and how does it help us?" asks Mitchell.

"The information the device is transmitting is data, the people in this village aren't real." says Alisana.

Vala approaches, "What do you mean they're not real, of course they're real. We danced with them, we ate food with them, they look and feel real to me." she says.

"No they're not. I've never seen it this sophisticated, but the beucium must be acting like some type of projector, projecting the villagers on the surface." says Alisana, she gets a lump in her throat, "...and us." she adds.

Carter laughs, "How can it be projecting us, we're real" she says.

Alisana shakes her head, "Not any more." she says regretfully.

"This is insane, Alisana it's a good theory but I think you need some sleep." says Mitchell.

"Sam listen.." says Alisana as she attempts to convince her, "When I interrupted the devices power we reappeared back here, twice we went back to Earth and when the gate shut down we reappeared here." she says.

Then Alisana moves over to the beucium and raises her arm pointing at it, "This is transmitting us, the signal must be able to travel through the gate, but when the gate shuts down the link is broken and we appear back here." she says, "Think about it." she adds.

Carter looks deep in thought, "Are you buying this?" asks Mitchell.

"Actually...it does sound plausible." replies Carter.

"You can't be serious." says Vala.

"Oh come on, Carter. OK...OK...if this thing is..transmitting or projecting us then just turn the thing off and we can go home." shouts Mitchell.

"We can't turn it off, if we do we won't be here any more." says Alisana.

Mitchell starts walking off in a huff holding his hands up, "I...I'm not listening to this any more." he says.

"Cam" shouts Carter urging him to come back.

Alisana is overcome with frustration, she thrusts towards Carter and pulls the gun from Carter's leg holster, "Alisana no..what are you doing?!" shouts Carter as she feels Alisana grab her gun.

Alisana steps forward, "Mitchell" she shouts and Mitchell turns around, Alisana shoots four rounds at him, Vala hits the floor on hearing the shots, Teal'c points his staff weapon at Alisana just as Carter grabs her from behind and pulls the gun from her hands.

The shots go right through Mitchell, after a moment of disbelief he starts walking back, "What the hell are you doing!" he shouts.

"You're not real." shouts Alisana, "If you were you'd be dead right now." she adds, she shakes free from Carter's hold.

"That was really stupid, Alisana." says a disappointed Carter.

"I'm sorry, but I had to prove my point." says Alisana.

Mitchell gets up close to Alisana, "What exactly is your point?" he asks angrily.

"My point is we're not real any more, the coloured lights at the celebration weren't just a pretty light show...we've been incorporated in to whatever program this thing is running." shouts Alisana, with a few tears running down her face.

"Why...why are we part of the ...program?" asks Vala.

Alisana wipes away her tears, "I'm not sure." she says, "May be because we were at the gathering, the device could have thought we were meant to be part of the program and some how converted us into...data, in fact I bet the people of this world were real once." she adds.

"How is that possible?" asks Carter.

Alisana turns to Carter, "I don't know, I don't have all the answers...I'm just guessing based on what I know." she says, she gets confused, "I..I need to think." she says, she faces Mitchell, "I'm sorry I shot you" she says then she looks side to side and walks over to the beucium and sits on the platform.

* * *

Mitchell looks at Carter, both of them have blank expressions on their faces and just don't know what to do.

Teal'c walks over to the beucium and stands next to Alisana, he quickly looks at her and then looks back up, he turns and slowly sits on the platform beside her, staring in to the distance not saying a word.

"When I first joined SG-1, it took a while for us to form a bond, and for them to truly trust me and the information I could provide." says Teal'c, not looking directly at Alisana.

Alisana wipes her nose and turns up her head to look at Teal'c, "What?" she asks.

"You believe they do not value your knowledge?" asks Teal'c.

"Little bit." replies Alisana.

"It may take some time to form what I believe they call..chemistry. But I assure you they do value your assistance." says Teal'c.

"Do you?" asks Alisana.

"I do." replies Teal'c.

"You're not angry with me for shooting Colonel Mitchell?" asks Alisana.

"No." replies Teal'c, "I have wanted to shoot him myself many times." he adds, then turns and gives Alisana a very rare smile.

Alisana laughs and sniffles, "Thank's Teal'c" she says while wiping her nose and tears from her face, as Teal'c gives her a nod she stands up and walks over to Mitchell and Carter.

"Colonel Mitchell..General Carter" says Alisana, Mitchell and Carter look at her blank, "My behaviour was stupid, reckless and irresponsible. I probably don't deserve it but I hope you can forgive me and let me continue to be a part of your team...I'm so sorry." she says, genuinely apologetic.

While Alisana stands there like a child about to be disciplined by her parents, Mitchell and Carter share a look, "Help Carter figure this out." says Mitchell in a forgiving tone.

"Yes Sir." says Alisana, Mitchell walks away towards Vala and Teal'c, "Shot by a rookie." mumbles Mitchell as he walks.

Alisana turns to Carter, "Between this and being late for the mission...that's two strikes...don't make it three." says Carter.

"Understood." says Alisana.

Carter smiles at her, "Come on lets go." she says.

"Where?" asks Alisana.

"Back to the cavern, if the device is causing this then that's where we need to start." says Carter, and they head off back to the cave.

* * *

Carter and Alisana are on their way back to the cave to investigate the device further, the others are in the village sitting on the beucium platform waiting for the next scheduled check in with the SGC and thinking about their situation.

"Where is everyone?" asks Vala as she sits up and looks around.

"Probably sleeping." replies Mitchell.

"Yes, but I haven't seen or heard anyone since we were...transmitted up here." says Vala.

Mitchell lifts and drops his arms as if he's not bothered, "So?" he asks.

"Sooo...even when Alisana tried to shoot you no one came out." replies Vala, "Surely someone would have wondered what the noise was and come to take a look." she adds.

"That does seem odd." says Teal'c.

Mitchell looks around, "Well..there's no lights in the windows." he says, "Lets go see Bartel." he adds.

They stand up and walk the short distance over to Bartel's house, when they get there they knock on the door, "Bartel, it's Cam Mitchell." shouts Mitchell, "You folks home?" he shouts, he tries the door and it opens so they step inside, it's dark and they don't see anyone.

"They must be sleeping like I said." says Mitchell.

Vala looks up the stairs, "I'll go see." she whispers as she heads up them.

"Vala...Vala" shouts Mitchell in a low voice, "I can't believe she's going up there." he says, but he and Teal'c follow her up anyway.

Vala gets to the bedroom door and knocks on it lightly, she slowly opens it being careful not to make any noise, "Hello, Sheris...Bartel" she whispers, peering in from the side of the door.

Mitchell and Teal'c reach the landing just as they see Vala start to walk in to the bedroom, "Vala!" says Mitchell, "Don't go in there." he says.

"Oh it'll be fine." replies Vala.

"Come out of there now." says Mitchell now standing at the door looking at Vala standing in the room.

"Ssshhh" whispers Vala, she walks over to the bed where Sheris and Bartel are sleeping, "Sheris" she says, "Sherisssss" she says.

Mitchell pokes his head around the door, "What are you doing?" he mimes with his lips.

"They won't wake up." whispers Vala, "SHERIS" she shouts very loudly then covers her mouth.

Mitchell ducks behind the door and rubs his face when Vala shouts, then he comes in to the room, "Bartel, I'm so sorry, I told her not to come up here and..." he says, but as he looks over to the bed he sees they're still sleeping and Vala standing there with her hands held out in wonder.

"Yo, Bartel." shouts Mitchell as he goes over to the bed, he rocks Bartel with his hand, "Wake up buddy it's Mitchell." he says.

They get no response or movement, Bartel and Sheris just lay there sleeping, Mitchell gets concerned and runs out of the room and out of the house, Teal'c and Vala follow behind.

"Hello!" shouts Mitchell at the top of his voice standing outside in the village, "Anyone, Hello" he shouts.

"What's going on?" asks Vala.

"Something is wrong." says Teal'c.

"Yeah." says Mitchell, he gets on his radio to Carter but realises they're in the cave so she can't hear him, "We have to get to the cave." he says and they run off towards it.


	6. Chapter 6

Carter and Alisana have been back in the cavern for a little while and have settled, kneeling beside the device again, Carter is running diagnostics on her laptop.

"So have you seen this technology before?" asks Carter.

"I read the research on it. The Alteran's were looking for a way to keep both the mind and body alive during long distance space travel." says Alisana.

"Like in stasis?" asks Carter.

"Yes." replies Alisana.

"Sounds like something we've seen before." says Carter, "I remember reading an Atlantis mission report, Colonel Sheppard and his team found an Ancient war ship drifting in space, the crew had been kept alive in stasis pods for thousands of years and they were living out their lives in a computer simulation." she adds.

"Really, thousands of years stuck in a computer, I would go mad." replies Alisana.

Carter laughs, "Yeah. Well they didn't even know they were in a simulation, it was real to them." she says.

"Do you think we'll ever get out of this?" asks Alisana.

"That's the plan..we just need to figure out how to do it." replies Carter.

Alisana takes a deep breath and shuffles closer to Carter, "So what do we have so far?" she says.

"Well this looks like something." says Carter, "Come around here." she says as she gets up and walks around to the other side of the device where Alisana interrupted it's power.

"What?" asks Alisana.

Carter points at the crystals inside the device, "You see these blue crystals here, there's hundreds of them. These aren't producing any power or emitting signals, I think these are data crystals." she says.

"To store the program?" asks Alisana.

"Right. If I'm right, then each of these crystals represents a person on this planet, essentially each person's digital self is stored in one of these crystals." says Carter, "Now look down here, you see how these crystals look shinier than the rest?" she adds.

"Yes" replies Alisana as she looks at them.

"These are new crystals..and there's five of them." says Carter.

Alisana thinks for a moment, "They're us?" she says.

"Yes." replies Carter with a smile, "Whatever happened to us, the device must have created these crystals to store us on" she says.

"How do we get...us..out of there?" asks Alisana.

Carter bites her lip in confusion, "That's what we need to figure out." she says.

* * *

They hear splashing water in the cave and get up to check it out, they see Mitchell, Vala and Teal'c coming.

"Sam...Alisana." shouts Mitchell.

"Cam?" asks Carter.

As they reach the cavern they catch their breath, "You're alright." says Mitchell.

"Yes, we're fine. What's going on?" asks Carter.

"There's something wrong with the villagers." says Vala.

"We noticed it was pretty quiet up there so we went to Bartel's house, only he didn't answer so we went inside, we didn't see anyone so Vala went to check upstairs and found them sleeping, we tried to wake them up but they wouldn't move." explains Mitchell, "Same with the rest of the village, everyone's sleeping and they won't wake up." he adds.

"Oh no." says Alisana, looking worried, she runs over and picks up the laptop.

"What, what is it?" asks Carter.

Alisana types on the laptop for a few seconds, "I think I may have damaged the program when I interrupted the power." she replies.

* * *

Carter and Alisana are working on finding a way out of their situation and a way to fix the problem with the program and wake the villagers, Mitchell went to the mouth of the cave for the next scheduled check-in, he updated the SGC on their situation and that they were working on it and they didn't require assistance at this time, however, General O'Neill insisted and told Mitchell that he would be sending a science team through the gate and they would be there within the hour.

"Sam." shouts Mitchell as he returns to the cavern.

"What did the General say?" asks Carter.

"He's sending a science team to help us out, they'll be here within an hour." says Mitchell.

"You should have told him not too, it's too risky to send more people through the gate right now." says Carter.

"I tried, but he insisted." replies Mitchell, "He's the General." he adds.

"The gate!." shouts Alisana, she stands up having an idea, not caring that the laptop she had sitting on her lap has now fallen to the floor, "We can use the Stargate." she says.

Carter looks at her a little bemused, then she realises what Alisana is thinking, "Would that work?" she asks.

"It's just data...right?" says Alisana.

"Right." replies Carter, "But it transmits matter, not data." she adds.

"Yes but we were basically de-materialised from matter, everything about us was stored in these crystals..including our matter...our DNA, size, weight, physiology..everything." says Alisana.

"But it will need modifying." says Carter.

"I can do that." replies Alisana.

"Are you sure?" asks Carter.

Alisana nods with confidence, "Yes." she says.

"This could work." says Carter.

"What?" asks Mitchell, he has no idea what's going on.

"OK, you know how a Stargate works right?. Two gates connect to each other and what ever you send through it, an object or person, it appears on the other side. In order to do that it de-materializes the matter of whatever is sent through it and re-materialises it at the other side." explains Carter.

Vala shrugs her shoulders, "OK?" shes says.

"Well we can use that. The gate sends an object or person through the gate via a matter stream connecting the two, but the stream is basically just..data. We can use the data stored on our crystals to re-materialise ourselves back into solid matter using the gate." says Carter.

"But we've been back through the gate twice, and we weren't...matter." says Mitchell.

Alisana steps in to the conversation, "That's because we were being transmitted, projected through the gate by the beucium, there wasn't enough data and the signal wasn't strong enough to convert us back in to matter." she says, "But if we send the raw data from the crystals through the gate it should be enough to re-materialise us back to our normal selves on the other side." she adds.

"OK I'm convinced, let's do it." says Mitchell.

Carter bites her lip again and shares a look with Alisana, they both clearly know there's a problem with the plan.

"What?" asks Vala.

"If we try this and it doesn't work, they'll be no data left on the crystals...we'll cease to exist." says Carter.

Mitchell, Vala and Teal'c take a moment to think, and then face each other, in true team spirit they agree to try.

"So how do we do this?" asks Mitchell.

* * *

Alisana is pleased they're going to try it and rushes back over to the device, at the side where she previously interrupted the power she pulls out a yellow crystal and comes back over to the others.

"We need to take this and plug it in to the DHDs power supply." says Alisana while holding out the yellow crystal.

Vala gently takes the crystal from Alisana, "What does it do?" she asks.

"It will act as a link between the device and the DHD. When that's done I can use the software on Carter's laptop to modify the gate and essentially trick it in to thinking solid matter has gone through, but what I'm actually doing is uploading the raw data from our crystals and the gate on the other side will use that data to re-materialise us." says Alisana.

Everyone looks very confused, "It's...complicated." says Carter, "But Alisana has a lot more knowledge of how Stargates work than I do. I trust her." she adds.

"As do I." says Teal'c.

"OK let's go." says Mitchell.

Teal'c, Mitchell and Vala start heading out of the cave, Carter grabs her laptop off the floor and taps Alisana on her arm, "Come on." says Carter, they all head back through the forest to the Stargate.

When they reach the Stargate they immediately get to work, Carter stands at the front of the DHD while Alisana takes the laptop and runs over to the Stargate to interface with it.

"Teal'c can you help me take this off." says Carter as she points to the central dome on the DHD.

One the dome is removed, Carter removes a crystal around the central power crystal, she replaces it with the yellow one they took from the device, "OK" shouts Carter.

Alisana is by the side of the gate crouched down with the laptop on her lap, a cable connects to it to a chevron on the gate, "I just need a minute." she shouts as she types.

A few minutes pass by and Carter runs over to Alisana, "Hows it coming?" she asks.

"These gates are newer than the ones I worked with, I just need to find the correct function." says Alisana, "There...got it." she says as she finishes typing and the laptop sounds a confirming beep, she disconnects the laptop from the gate and runs with Carter back to the DHD.

Alisana hooks up the laptop to the yellow crystal in the DHD, she then passes Carter the laptop so she can finish the final part of the modifications.

Carter sets up a dialling program and programs it to transmit the data through the Stargate from their crystals in the device, "OK, it'll transmit 3 seconds after the gate activates." says Carter, "We're ready." she shouts.


	7. Chapter 7

SG-1 gathers in front of the Stargate, "Set to go. All we have to do now is push this button." says Carter, pointing at the 'Enter' key on the laptop, "Who wants to do the honours?" she asks, looking at everyone.

Mitchell slowly holds out his arm and hovers his finger over the enter key, "How about we do it together?" he says.

One by one they all place their fingers next to Mitchell's, "If this works the gate will activate, transmit our GDO code and then 3 seconds later we'll be sent through." says Carter.

Mitchell takes a deep breath, "OK. Ready?" he says.

"Ready" says Vala, "I am ready." says Teal'c, "Ready." says Alisana, "On 3. 3...2...1" says Carter and then all push down on the key and look at the Stargate.

The symbols for Earth light up on the DHD and the gate activates, the laptop beeps indicating the GDO signal has been sent, then as predicted 3 seconds later they all disappear, and the laptop Carter was holding falls to the ground.

* * *

At precisely the same time back on Earth, O'Neill is in the gate room preparing the science team and he's fully geared up, P90 in hand and his cap on his head, he intends to go with them to P3X-720.

Once everyone is ready, O'Neill gives the order to dial the gate, as the third chevron locks in place the inner wheel of the gate stops spinning and all the illuminated chevrons go dark, the gate starts spinning again.

"Off world gate activation." announces Walter.

O'Neill turns to face the gate just as it activates, "What do you have?" he shouts up to Walter.

"Receiving SG-1's IDC." replies Walter.

The event horizon in the center of the gate starts showing random faint coloured patterns, it looks a lot like a kaleidoscope, seconds later Teal'c, Mitchell and Vala come through the gate backwards, sideways and upside-down, they land rather hard on the ramp and roll down it...then the gate deactivates.

Walter requests a medical team to the gate room, some of the science team members and O'Neill rush over to help them up.

"Teal'c, Mitchell...you alright?" says O'Neill as he bends down at the foot of the ramp to check on them.

Vala is laying on the middle of the ramp facing towards the gate, her leg is broken and she can't get up, she lifts her head and sees that the gate has deactivated, "It worked." she says, as she slowly twists her upper body to look at Mitchell and Teal'c.

Mitchell and Teal'c are a bit bruised and dazed from the fall but are otherwise ok, Teal'c pushes himself up on to his feet, "It did indeed." he replies to Vala, he then helps O'Neill lift Mitchell to his feet.

"Ouch, why is it always my back." moans Mitchell as he rubs his back.

The medical team arrives and begins checking them over.

"Where's Sam and Alisana?" asks O'Neill.

As Vala is helped up by the medical team she looks around the gate room, "Didn't they come through?" she asks, being helped down the ramp hopping on one leg.

Mitchell ignores his back pain and looks at O'Neill, "They should have come through, we were all suppose to come through together." he says, very concerned.

"We must return to P3X-720 immediately." says Teal'c, in a firm tone.

O'Neill looks up at Walter in the control room, "Dial P3X-720" he shouts.

"Sir?" replies Walter.

"Just do it." says O'Neill.

* * *

They dial P3X-720 and a connection is established, O'Neill starts walking up the ramp with Teal'c and Mitchell, "Wait here." he says while pointing at the science team, Vala is being held up by her arms by two medical personnel, she faces the gate and watches them go through it with a worried expression on her face.

As the SGC dials in, the gate on P3X-720 activates.

The moment the event horizon is stable, Alisana comes flying out of the gate backwards, less than a second later, Carter also comes flying out of the gate, she and Alisana fly uncontrollably through the air screaming with their arms and legs waving around frantically.

They both came out of the gate at such an incredible speed and force that they land over 100 feet away, Alisana impacts the ground and rolls several feet before coming to a stop face down in the dirt, Carter hits the ground soon after and also rolls several feet along the ground until her body hits Alisana's and she comes to a stop.

Alisana is in pain and lifts her head slightly to look around, she sees Carter next to her unconscious, she painfully sweeps her arm out towards her and grabs her hand, "Sam." she says while gently rocking her hand trying to wake her up, she gets no response and them moments later Alisana also passes out.

O'Neill, Teal'c and Mitchell come through the gate, it's still dark out so visibility isn't very good, as they walk down the steps of the gate platform they see the laptop on the ground, they start turning their heads to look around.

Teal'c walks a few feet ahead of them and looks down the path.

"May be they're in the cave." says Mitchell.

"Let's take a look." says O'Neill and he walks towards Teal'c heading down the path.

Teal'c glares down the path and just makes something out, as O'Neill reaches Teal'cs position, Teal'c blocks him, "O'Neill." he says as he points down the path to what he can see.

O'Neill stares for a brief moment then realises it's the shape of 2 people, "Oh God." he whispers, then starts running, "Carter." he shouts.

Teal'c and Mitchell run after him, O'Neill is running so fast his hat blows off, "Carter." he shouts.

As O'Neill gets near them he slides out his foot and skids a few feet across the muddy leafy ground, coming to a stop next to Alisana and Carter, "Carter." he says as he rolls her over, he then leans forward and checks Alisana.

Teal'c and Mitchell approach, "They're unconscious" says O'Neill, "Help me...grab Alisana." he says, Mitchell stops, turns and then runs back towards the gate to dial Earth.

O'Neill and Teal'c lift Carter and Alisana's limp bodies off the ground, they run back to the gate carrying them on their shoulders.

The gate activates and they waste no time going through.

When they come through the gate at the SGC they see the last few medical personnel exiting the gate room, O'Neill sees them, "Hey...we need help here." he shouts.

A nurse sees them, he shouts down the hall waving telling the medical team to come back.

Teal'c and O'Neill hurry towards the gate room doors to meet them in the hall, as the medical teams return they put Carter and Alisana on stretchers, "They're unconscious." says Mitchell, they're taken on the stretchers straight to the infirmary.

It was later discovered that Alisana suffered a broken arm, broken ankle and a fractured wrist, Carter suffered a broken collar bone and 2 broken ribs, both remain unconscious as doctors tend to them.

* * *

O'Neill and the rest of SG-1 headed to the briefing room to wait for news, Mitchell informed O'Neill of what had happened and how they managed to make it back, although no one could explain what went wrong, O'Neill ordered the science team to go to P3X-720 to try figure it out.

Daniel heard about what happened and came to join them, Vala had a cast put on her broken leg and after being patched up she left the infirmary and joined everyone else in the briefing room, she's currently being comforted by Daniel, everyone is in shock and extremely concerned..no one has said a word for quite some time.

"Should we inform the Nox of Alisana's condition, O'Neill?" asks Teal'c.

O'Neill looks up and then shakes his head, "No, Lets...lets just wait and see how she is." he says.

A few minutes later, Dr Garson enters the briefing room, everyone stands up and walks round the table and over to him, "Doc." says O'Neill.

"How are they?" asks Daniel.

Dr Garson smiles, "They're going to be just fine." he says.

Everyone lets out a breath of relief and smile and lightly laugh with happiness, "Thanks Doc." says O'Neill as he shakes his hand, Vala and Daniel hug, Mitchell slaps Teal'c on the shoulder, "Yes!" he says.

"Neither suffered any life threatening injuries but it may take some time for them to recover, all we can do now is monitor their condition and wait for them to regain consciousness, but I don't think they'll be any permanent damage." says Dr Garson.

"Can we see them?" asks Mitchell.

"Not right now. They're still heavily sedated and right now what they need is rest." says Dr Garson

"You're the Doc." says O'Neill.

"I better get back to them." says Dr Garson, "You should all get some rest as well...Doctors orders." he adds.

As Dr Garson leaves to return to the infirmary, O'Neill sits back down and holds his head with relief, Vala and Teal'c head to the mess hall and Mitchell goes in search of a comfortable mattress.

"Jack." says Daniel, leaning against the table next to O'Neill.

O'Neill moves his hands and looks at him.

Daniel smiles, "She's fine, Jack. They both are." he says.

O'Neill just nods.

Daniel gently pats O'Neill on the back and then heads out of the room.

* * *

After two days of waiting, Alisana and Carter regain consciousness, because they were unconscious for so long, Dr Garson worried they may have suffered some brain trauma, but after he examines them he thankfully finds nothing wrong, Dr Garson is very pleased with their condition, they should be out of the woods soon with no long lasting ill effects.

O'Neill goes to see how they are doing, he walks in to the infirmary, he sees Carter and Alisana in beds situated next to one another, both of them with casts, bandages and drip lines on them, Alisana is sleeping but Carter is laying awake in her bed and she sees O'Neill walk in.

"Sir." says Carter.

O'Neill walks over to Carters bed and sits on the side of it, "Hey." he says with a smile, "How are you feeling?" he adds.

"Heads a little fuzzy, but I feel ok considering." says Carter.

"What do you remember about what happened?" asks O'Neill.

Carter blinks and squints her eyes, thinking about what happened, "Well, I remember standing near the gate with the rest of SG-1, then I was flying through the air...next thing I know I woke up in here. I don't remember anything else." she says.

O'Neill reaches over and holds Carter's hand, "I thought I'd lost you out there." he says.

Carter smiles back at O'Neill as they squeeze each others hand, they share a distant loving look as O'Neill gently brushes back Carter's fringe with his hand and caresses her cheek.

They hear a light groan from the bed opposite, then Alisana slowly opens her eyes and wakes up, she licks her dry chapped lips and turns her head and sees Carter and O'Neill.

"Hi." says Carter.

"Hi..." says Alisana, "Ow." she whimpers as she tries to sit up.

O'Neill stands up and walks over to Alisana's bed, "Hey..hey..easy." he says, then he gently helps her sit up.

"I guess we made it then." says Alisana.

"Yep." replies Carter.

Alisana looks around, "What happened to us, where are the others?" she asks.

O'Neill stands between the two beds with his hands in his pockets, "Well, we sent a science team back to P3X-720 to check out that device you told us about, when they got there it was all burnt out...wasn't working." he says.

"That wasn't suppose to happen, do they know what caused it?" asks Carter.

"They said it must have been some kind of power surge. Mitchell, Teal'c and Vala came through the gate just fine, but then the device overloaded before you two could come through...or something...I dunno." says O'Neill, he doesn't understand this technical stuff.

"We must have been stuck in the buffer." says Alisana while looking at Carter.

"Yeah. I guess when they dialled P3X-720 after the others came through, the gate on P3X-720 must have re-materialised us on that end." says Carter, "The overload must have caused us to come through the gate with too much inertia." she adds.

"That's exactly what I was thinking." says O'Neill.

Carter laughs, "Very good Sir." she says.

"What about the villagers?" asks Alisana.

"The science team believe they can repair the device but it may take a while." says O'Neill, "Don't worry about it, both of you just need to concentrate on getting better." he adds.

"Right." says Carter, "OK" says Alisana.

O'Neill goes over to Alisana's bed and squeezes her hand, "You did real good out there." he says.

"Yes she did Sir. It was her idea that saved us." says Carter in a very proud manner.

"Thanks" replies Alisana.

"Well...I'll leave you two to get some rest, the others said they'll be down to see you when you're felling a little better." says O'Neill, and he leaves the infirmary.

Alisana turns to Carter, "So...you and Jack huh?" she says.

"What about us?" asks a curious Carter.

"Oh..nothing." replies Alisana.

"There's nothing going on." says Carter.

"Then why are you blushing." says Alisana, winding Carter up this time.

"Shut up." replies Carter with a light laugh.

It may take a few weeks or possibly months for Carter, Alisana and Vala to recover from their injuries, but they're all fine and will return to duty as soon as they're able, putting the injuries aside, Alisana's first mission was a successful one and she's proven to the team that she can be trusted and she came through for them in the end.

She's looking forward to continuing her journeys through the Stargate with SG-1 to explore the galaxy.

The science team sent to P3X-720 were, after a few weeks and a lot of man hours, able to repair the device and successfully get it working again. The villagers were once again projected in to the village via the beucium but because of the damage to the device it had reset itself and they would have no memory of ever meeting SG-1, O'Neill ordered the science team to leave quietly and not interact with the villagers, they may return to P3X-720 in the future but for now they're leaving them alone.

The End.


End file.
